Qatari leader calls for Arab nations to intervene and 'stop the bloodshed in Syria'

A column of smoke rises over Damascus, Syria, on Wednesday after two bomb blasts were reported.

By NBC News staff and wire reports

UNITED NATIONS -- Arab nations should intervene in Syria given the U.N. Security Council's failure to stop the civil war in the country, Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said Tuesday.

"The Security Council failed to reach an effective position. In view of this, I think that it is better for the Arab countries themselves to interfere out of their national, humanitarian, political and military duties and do what is necessary to stop the bloodshed in Syria," Sheik Hamad, speaking through an interpreter, said in a U.N. General Assembly speech.

Sheik Hamad further urged all countries that believe in the cause of the Syrian people to provide "all sorts of support" to Syrians until they gain legitimate rights.

Activists say that 27,000 people have been killed in Syria's uprising, which began as peaceful demonstrations for reform 18 months ago but turned into an armed insurgency fighting to topple Assad, with sectarian overtones that could drag in regional powers.

An undated handout television grab taken from Iran's state-run news network Press TV shows its correspondent Maya Nasser who was killed in Syria Wednesday.

"The Free Army hit the general staff building in Damascus' Umayyad Square and dozens were killed in the two powerful blasts," the information office for the FSA military council said in a statement. Syria's Information Minister Omran Zoabi had earlier said that the blasts caused only material damage.

The army said four guards were killed and 14 wounded in what it said were suicide attacks. No senior officers were hurt in the blasts, which shook the whole city just before the start of the working day, it said.

Iran's Press TV also said Wednesday that one of its correspondents was killed in Syria covering the twin blasts and gun battles in the Damascus.